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This time, ‘just’ a drill: Firefighters practice rescue skills at JTF

The timing was a coincidence – but, just hours after the Skagit River I-5 bridge collapse, firefighters from Seattle and other metro-area departments were here in West Seattle, practicing skills they would need if faced with a disaster or attack requiring people to be rescued from wreckage and debris.

The “structural collapse and heavy rescue” training was at the Joint Training Facility, off Myers Way South in the city limits’ southern pocket east of White Center, north of Top Hat.

The facility is specially set up to facilitate training for situations that rescuers seldom get to see, but need to know how to handle:

SFD Lt. Frank Brennan offered more specifics:

According to the media advisory sent late yesterday by Seattle Fire, while this training is applicable to other types of rescue situations, it’s funded by a regional grant that’s part of the federal Department of Homeland Security’s Urban Areas Security Initiative. The program is described on a federal web page as involving “the unique planning, organization, equipment, training, and exercise needs of high-threat, high-density urban areas, and assists them in building an enhanced and sustainable capacity to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from acts of terrorism.”

West Seattle Be Prepared leadership was invited to attend a training last year and I spent several hours there during a training. I remember Patrick(WSB) being there as well at that training. I think it would be great to let the public have even more visability or at least videos of the training that happens there. But I have to say that the photos (nice as they are!) don’t show the training,thought and learning that go into these exercices.
Deb
WSBP

Yup, photo ops are imperfect. We often have to parachute in and parachute out. We’ve covered this type of training before but decided to drop by today because (a) we could (no conflicts) and (b) with last night’s bridge collapse on so many minds, it’s at least good to remind people that this is going on, all the time. There was about an hourlong window for media, out of a full day of training, not that we could have stayed for the whole day. Here’s one we covered a year-plus ago with a few more photos and some video:
.http://westseattleblog.com/2011/10/fire-department-trains-for-what-you-hope-theyll-never-face

(Sound Transit file photo, Capitol Hill) By Tracy Record West Seattle Blog editor The in-person open houses are over. The online open house continues. You have less than two weeks to get your opinion(s) into the wide-open